5th XI Match Report (h) -v- Adamstown – May 30th – LCU 20/20 Group B

The 5th XI effectively bowed out of the LCU 20/20 with a 91 defeat at the hands of Adamstown in the park last night. Having been set an imposing total of 170 to chase the 5th XI struggled to get about the task and were well short in the end. It was still an educational game for the new look side, though, and they will take the positives forward to Monday’s game against Old Belvedere.

The omens were not good as Phoenix lost the toss and were asked to field. The pitch looked superb and the Adamstown batsmen took a liking to it early on. Despite the openers Aalishan Moosavi and Ian Anders hitting good areas the visitors managed to tee off and get the scoreboard rolling with some big hits.

Aalishan Moosavi did manage to nip out an early wicket cleaning up O’Brien (10) but the away side pressed on at a healthy rate. The introduction of Golden Arm Anders worked it’s usual trick as the head of the clan had Habib (21) caught at Backward Point by Moore to take the score to 53 for 2.

Aalishan Moosavi continued his good start to life at Phoenix taking 3 wickets

That was to prove a brief respite, though, as Adamstown continued to power forward. All the Phoenix bowlers stuck to their task well but the runs continued to flow.

Andrew Fox struck again for the 5th XI as his introduction to Senior cricket continues to go nicely. It was a superb delivery that was nicked off to the the slip region and John Anders pulled off a superb low catch diving forward. Excellent cricket all round from Phoenix as the side kept their heads up despite the adversity they faced.

Moosavi grabbed his second wicket as he trapped the free swining Johnson (60) lbw as Adamstown looked to push on in the late going. The big hits continued but John Anders took a second superb catch as he helped Ian Anders collect the wicket of R Singh (13) above his head on the boundary rope. Six runs saved and a wicket gained by the Anders combo.

There was one more wicket to fall as Moosavi grabbed a third with Moore collecting his second catch of the night at Backward Point. Adamstown had amassed a massive 169 for 6 off their 20 overs and Phoenix faced a stiff test.

Ian Anders chipped in with 1 wicket and 17 runs

John and Ian Anders opened the batting but were faced with some extremely testing bowling. A Afzal in particular swung the ball miles and the Phoneix batsmen struggled to get him away. The Anders did their best to keep it ticking along and their calling and running between the wickets was excellent. However in the face of some fine bowling the run rate began to rise.

John Anders (21) nicked off for the second time in 5 days but his form with the bat has been superb thus far. There was massive flurry of wickets as Phoenix tried to put the pedal to the floor. Phoenix went from 45 for 1 to 54 for 6 when Ian Anders (18) departed off an inside edged that clipped his off bail.

O’Donnell and Moore added a few before the former fell and then another quick couple of wickets saw Phoenix 69 for 9. Fox came in and batted with composure as the final pairing tacked on a few more runs. Fox (1) was out with just three balls left in the innings while Moore finished on 16 not out.

A disappointing defeat no doubt but the Division 13 status belied the quality of the opposition. Some of the clean hitting would give Phoenix 2nd and 3rd XI a run for their money. The 5th XI will take the positives, of which there were many, and move forward.

A massive thanks to all those who came to watch the game as ever. Your support is greatly appreciated by all the lads. Also many thanks to Aaron Joseph who volunteered to umpire the game for us and also to our scorer supreme, Conor Dillon, who once again did the book for us.

Youth Training Times 2017

In the event of bad weather please call our Training Hotline, 083 1930 626, where a recording of the training status, if necessary, will be available at least one hour before sessions are due to begin.